Sometimes, to go forward, we have to go back. The first steps on the long journey to the cross, the tomb, and Easter take Jesus and us into the wilderness. …
In July of 2017, I was sitting beside my mother. She was lying in a hospital bed in the middle of the living room in the house I had grown…
“Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (5:9). Peace must be made. Have you considered that? Peace isn’t simply already there. What’s already there is…
Jesus tells us the meek will inherit the earth. They will be the ones to enjoy the fulfillment of the promise when the new heaven and the new earth come.…
Over the next few Sundays, I’d like to walk with you through the Beatitudes, this first part of the Sermon on the Mount. We’ve heard the Beatitudes often enough, perhaps,…
In Matthew’s timeline, Jesus has just returned from his time of temptation in the wilderness. We’ll get to that in about a month. In the meantime, John had been taken…
Twice in as many days, John the Baptist points to Jesus: “Look, the Lamb of God!” (1:29, 36). Lambs had one purpose in Israel’s relationship with God. We delight in…
Have you ever been at the grocery store and seen what you wanted there on the top shelf, and realized, after trying a few times, that you would need help…
Jesus is the proof that God keeps His promises. He keeps His promises not because of us but despite us. That probably doesn’t do a lot for our egos. God’s…
In the eighty-first psalm, the voice of the people of God, in slavery in Egypt, says, “I hear a voice I had not known” (Ps 81:5). That unrecognized voice is…